Managing a Twitter account for your brand or company is an essential part of your social media and online presence. However, managing that account and making sure the correct material is posted is even more essential. KitchenAid learned this the hard way when the following tweet was posted from their Twitter handle during the Presidential Debate that happened this past Wednesday.
“Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! ‘She died 3 days b4 he became president’. #nbcpolitics,”@KitchenAidUSA posted to 24,000 followers before quickly deleting the tweet.
KitchenAid immediately issued the following as well as an apology, but the damage had already been done.
Twitter exploded with comments ranging from understanding to highly critical to tweeting about the increased sales KitchenAid’s competitors will see.
Two lessons can be learned from this:
1. Make sure whoever is managing your company or brand’s Twitter Handle is responsible and knows the consequences of what could happen if a personal tweet is tweeted accidentally from the company’s Twitter account.
2. Unfortunately, mistakes happen. Be sure to address the problem and take steps to make it right as quickly as possible. That will go a long way and could help to reduce the damage.